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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority is weaker than it seems. In fact, the bedrock of Putin’s power — the economic arrangements that he has consolidated over the past generation — has become the main threat to his political survival. The...

Under President Vladimir Putin, cronyism has replaced Russia’s once-burgeoning capitalism. If Putin lives by any motto, it is this: “To my friends, anything; for my enemies, the law.”
In his 2000 “autobiography,” “First Person,” Putin reveals...

Last month, Emmanuel Macron pulled the proverbial rabbit from the electoral hat. Against the odds, the independent centrist won the French presidency by a decisive margin, beating the far-right populist Marine Le Pen — and vanquishing the old...

Vladimir Putin’s Russia is looking more and more like the sclerotic and stagnant Soviet Union of the Leonid Brezhnev era. But in one area, Putin’s regime remains an innovator: Corruption. Indeed, in this, the 18th year of Putin’s rule, a new form...

After more than two years of economic contraction, Russia seems to have achieved some semblance of stability. Though economic growth is expected to reach only about 1 percent in 2017, the fear of economic destabilization that has permeated the...

The long-term sustainability of Russia’s economy is an open question. Cronyism is rife, and Russia’s heavy dependence on oil revenues means that it will suffer whenever oil prices are low. But if the Soviet Union taught us anything, it is that...

This year, the Russian economy is the G-20’s worst performer, contracting by 3.8 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest forecast. And things could easily have been worse. President Vladimir Putin claims that his economic...

Ukraine may not be grabbing as many headlines now as it did a year ago, but the crisis there is far from over. The latest cease-fire agreement, concluded in Minsk in February, has contained, but not stopped, Russian military aggression. And, though...

As 2014 came to a close, an enormous financial crisis erupted in Russia. World oil prices had fallen by almost half since mid-June, and the ruble plummeted in December, finishing the year down by a similar margin. Russia’s international reserves...